Apples To Oranges
by problematick
Summary: She always did love apples more.' Kate's observations of the bullpen on a slow day. Rating for SAFETY. Probably too safe. Oneshot ?


**Apples to Oranges**

Kate sighed, leaning back in her chair. It was a quiet day; no new cases, just a lot of shuffling paper for the whole team. Well, McGee actually somehow had skipped out; down to Abby's lab, no doubt. She didn't want to walk in on them; that would most definitely scar her for life, if Tony's implying comments didn't.

Speak of the devil; she looked forward, Tony actually seeming intent on his computer screen for once. She rolled her eyes, thinking of only one thing that could interest him that much; him and his juvenile, disgusting and often erotically-oriented thoughts. But he wouldn't dare on his work computer...would he? She watched him a little more, looking for a change in his expression. She didn't need her background in profiling to know what _that_ face meant: yeah, he **would** dare.

She closed her eyes and chuckled silently, seeing him pull out his cute little bag lunch and retrieve some fruit. Banana, apple, orange and a pear. He downed the banana faster than she could blink, and was munching on the pear a moment later. The apple and orange sat on the edge of his desk, an odd pair. She looked at the apple, of the red and gold variety, and somehow got the analogy that Tony, that playful, immature, never settle down bachelor that she had to put up with everyday... was like an apple.

He seemed tough on the outside. But he was easy to get to, with a selective strike that'd appeal to him. He ripened slowly; ever so slowly -especially in maturity. With a bite you got to the sweet and tangy inside that was unique with every new day. Every now and then there would be a day where you found a worm and were disgusted with him, but others were the sweetest you'd ever seen. It would get old quickly once picked; just the same as his jokes after the first telling. And the relentless chatter the movie buff rolled on about every day was just as tiring. Kate could only feign half-interest for so long. Tony's ego was as easily bruised as the corner of an apple. Too much pressure and he would cave, hoping for you to let up on him. A drop from a high place usually resulted in internal injuries, which is what he often claimed he felt like when taken down off a good day by their boss.

Blinking brown eyes turned left, observing the mentioned man one desk over. His brows were furrowed, and he was starting to get that 'I'm going to kill something' look on his face as he struggled with his arch enemy; technology. The computer was beeping and wailing in distress, Gibbs only clicking madly and punching the keyboard. She tilted her head to one side, a lock of her dark, wavy hair falling into her eyes. Gibbs was different than Tony. So different.

It took a lot of damn work to get to him. A LOT. Just like it -felt like it- took _years_ to open that citrus and peel off the tough outer layer, it took just as much effort -and none on his part- to get on his good side; if you were the optimistic type and believed he had one. His team maintained that he didn't; Kate figured that one out pretty fast. An orange could age and not look too bad. Gibbs was old, but he looked pretty good, considering. Abby named him her 'silver fox'. Kate had to admit it had a nice ring to it; but if anyone but his favorite labbie said it, they could just kiss the rest of their life goodbye. An orange could take a beating and still keep on truckin'. Inside, it was sour and sweet, but sourer than it was sweet. Yes, **definitely** sourer. Yet somehow, you just kept going back for more. Once you reached that soft ol' center, you were glad. The flavor could make your brows furrow and your lips pucker, just like Gibbs on a bad day when a teenager at Starbucks couldn't understand his order for a plain, tall black coffee. He was all these things. And more, when he wanted to be.

Tony, that man she loved -that she couldn't _yet_ admit she loved- sat across from her, a dumb grin across his face. He had fallen from the tree grasping for leaves on his way down and rolling to the gnarled root's of the youth tree's base, begging to be allowed to stay a little longer in bachelor-teenaged boy mode. When you sliced an apple open, there was a star inside. He still had hope. Potential. Something was there. **He** was a star inside. (We think.)

Gibbs, Jethro Gibbs, the boss that was so alone, and needed someone like her to keep him sane. He couldn't communicate well, he hated practically everything electronic and was determined to do his best to end up alone and lonely working on the boat in his basement for the rest of his life. When you slice open an orange, all you get is a squirt of juice in your face. Well... you just had to know he was good in there. Somewhere. (We think.)

"Apples to oranges," she said aloud, receiving a glance from both men. One smiled, the other just stared her down with eyes that would kill -other people!- if they could. She smiled at both of them as they returned to work. Or, in Tony's case, play. A small smile curling her lips, Kate moved back to her desk, rolling her chair up and done with her observations of the day.

"Apples to oranges," she murmured.

She always did love apples more.


End file.
